Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

James Frey is a well-known writer who has been in the limelight for both the good and the bad. Many of his novels became bestsellers (“A Million Little Pieces” and “My Friend Leonard”), but were embroiled in a controversy surrounding the fact that certain portions were fabricated. Nevertheless, Frey continued churning out novels and even founded a production company named Full Fathom Five. He is also known as the author of the Lorien Legacy Series, written under the pseudonym of Pittacus Lore.

James Christopher Frey was born on September 12, 1969 in Cleveland, Ohio to a business executive father and a homemaker mother. As a teen, he had encounters with alcohol and drug addiction, aside from being a troublemaker for some time. In spite of these, he graduated from the Denison University in 1992, and proceeded to study in the Art School of Chicago while holding a few jobs for additional income. After moving to LA a few years later, he found work as a scriptwriter, director, and producer. In 1994, he persuaded directors to give him a chance to get some of the screenplays he wrote turned into movies. He was able to accomplish those eventually in 1998, when his scripts “Kissing a Fool” and “Sugar: The Fall of the West” pushed through on the big screens.

Controversy

It was in 1996 that Frey started writing what would later become his most famous novel that would eventually bring him to the top yet pull him back down: “A Million Little Pieces”. This book, publicized as a “brutally honest” memoir, told the story of a 23-year-old Frey’s struggles with being an alcoholic and crack addict, and how he coped with these in a rehabilitation center. In the book, Frey narrates how he was made to do a 12-step program to withdraw from his addictions, and how he was able to form relationships with the other people in the center. One of these people, a mafia boss, was featured in Frey’s next book titled “My Friend Leonard” (2005). It continued the where A Million Little Pieces left off, and was positively received, making it the #5 Best Book of the Year at that time.

When A Million Little Pieces was published, it garnered rave reviews from readers and was skyrocketed to the top of the bestseller lists for some weeks. The books was hailed as a masterpiece, a “first of its kind”, and Frey was admired as one of the most prolific and courageous writers of the year. This attention granted the author much publicity and he was invited to hundreds of interviews and book signings. Two years later, A Million Little Pieces was featured once again by Oprah Winfrey in her Book Club Selection and this caused the book to jump to the top of the New York Times bestselling list once again: this time, for 15 straight weeks.

The author’s downfall started in January 2006, when the online website The Smoking Gun published an article titled “A Million Little Lies”. The article claimed that after six weeks of investigation, they found solid evidence that much of the incidents in the memoir were actually fabricated by Frey. As expected, this revelation caused quite a stir since Frey had built up a large career and a good reputation by that time. Reports began surfacing that he had never really been incarcerated as he had claimed in his memoir, which he had once described as “being the essential truth of my life”. Frey was questioned about an interview back in 2003 where he was asked about the truthfulness in the book. He defended that back then he had never denied making small alterations in some details.

When Oprah Winfrey invited Frey once again in her show in 2006, that was when things started to get extremely bad for the author. Under severe pressure and relentless questioning from Winfrey herself, he admitted that he had fabricated several portions of the book because he believed that he had to put things that readers wanted to read about. He publicly declared that he had not really been incarcerated as he had claimed, and that he had exaggerated many events to inject some tension and climax into the memoir. That interview became the most viewed episode of the show Oprah and suddenly reversed Frey’s standing as a writer.

Doubleday and Anchor Books, the publishers of the memoir, eventually offered a full refund to readers who believed that they had been duped. However, reports said that fewer than 2,000 people eventually claimed a refund. Further published copies of the book also contained disclaimers plus an apology from Frey himself on fabricating some of the events.

Further Works

The controversies did not deter Frey from pushing forward though, and soon enough he released his next novel titled “Bright Shiny Morning” in 2008, which tells the story of a diverse cast of characters including a celebrity couple, a maid, and a homeless man all living in Los Angeles. The novel was received well enough, and was dubbed as “a page turner” by The New York Times and “the literary comeback of the decade” by The Guardian.

Frey proceeded to found Full Fathom Five in 2009, a publishing company geared towards producing young adult novels with a large potential for commercial success. He appointed himself as CEO of the company, which hires fresh graduates and amateur writers. Frey is responsible for conceptualizing story lines which he then passes on to his writers, who do the writing for him.

However, Full Fathom Five has also been subjected to controversies when a story leaked that its writers are given a very limiting contract, where the terms ensure that they are not given credit for their work and that Frey has the authority to remove a person from a project anytime he wished to do so. This caused a bit of a stir once again and led some people to start a movement which persuaded people to avoid buying books produced by Full Fathom Five.

In 2011, Frey published “The Final Testament of the Holy Bible”, which was his own take on the Messiah’s second coming. As a proclaimed atheist, Frey presented his own version of the Messiah, named Ben Zion Avrohom, who he depicts as a bisexual living among the slums of New York. The book is said to be bold, and offensive to devout Christians but witty and entertaining enough for the more open-minded audience.

“Endgame: The Calling” was co-written with Nils Johnson-Shelton and came out in 2014. The story depicts an earth created by aliens, and where 12 players descended from certain lines fight for their race’s survival.

Presently, Frey lives with his wife and three children in New Canaan, Connecticut. He has also expressed that his past does not worry him. He has also said that he does not care for rules and will not change, no matter how much people may praise him or vilify him.

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Featured Series

Our book series of the month is the Will Robie Series by David Baldacci. If you like Mitch Rapp, Jack Reacher, Jason Bourne etc then you'll love the Will Robie series. These are page turners to the max too and Baldacci knows how to keep you going all night long!

Featured Author

Bill Wenham is the author of various book series including The Inspector Charrington Mysteries and the Inspector Bruce Mysteries. He just started writing in his 80s to follow a life long dream. It’s an amazing story and the books he has written are pretty great too – his passion really shines through. Read more about Bills books.

Did You Know…

Brian Haig's father was former U.S. Secretary of State Alexander Haig.